A Pandemic Thanksgiving Memorial
A Pandemic Thanksgiving Memorial My mother died on Pandemic Thanksgiving. She spent the last two years of her life in hospice, in a nursing home, and most of the last year of her life cut off from family and visitors. She did not die of the virus. She was blessed to have care staff who […]
The Fabulous Orgasmic Life of Betty Dodson
The Fabulous Orgasmic Life of Betty Dodson Betty Dodson was a sexual pioneer who believed that in order to be truly equal, women must be independent from men for their sexual satisfaction. She is famous for her trailblazing work empowering women through masturbation, including her book, Sex for One, and her many hands-on workshops. “The […]
And Now the Days of Writerly Excess
And Now the Days of Writerly Excess When October has come and gone, when your costume is back in the box and your Jack O’Lantern has grinned its last grin, it’s time for that annual festival of writerly excess, National Novel Writing Month. If you have ever struggled with your Inner Critic, if she […]
A Week of Nobel Queens
A Week of Nobel Queens What a week for older women! Poet Louise Gluck, 77, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.” Gluck is a professor at Yale who previously won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Her lifetime of […]
Who Says Erotica is Porn?
Who Says Erotica is Porn? I got into a minor spat with a romance writer one day. She was talking online about how much writing romance means to her as an older woman, which I totally understand. Just like writing erotica, writing romance for older women has that wonderful ability to bring our stories to […]
Life in the Third Act with Plague
Life in the Third Act with Plague. What it’s like to get what you want in a pandemic I recently read a fabulous article [registration required] by Caitlin Moran with the subtitle “Goodbye, nice, jolly, happy Caitlin. Hello, angry Caitlin.” Moran’s premise is that women spend most of our adult lives drunk on a biochemical cocktail […]
